Mario Manufacturing Company was founded by Mario Russo in 1922. In addition to producing beautifully hand decorated mica shades, the company became well known for its leather lamps. Mario, located on 26th street in New York, continued to grow and in the 1950's became one of the first companies to import hand crafted lamp bases from Italy.

In 1952, upon the death of his father, Vito Russo became President of Mario Manufacturing. Mario Manufacturing expanded and relocated its production facilities to Mount Vernon, New York in the early 1960's. In 1965, Mario became the leading innovator of the still popular mini lamp. These mini lamps created the transition for lighting to become decorative as well as functional.

In 1988, Mario Russo's grandson, Louis Scutellaro, became President and relocated the business to Roanoke, Virginia.

Throughout the years, Mario has always manufactured hand crafted leather lamps as the company's signature. In 1997, Mario Industries re-introduced lampshades of genuine mica, reminiscent of the original Mario Designs.